Block elements

Block elements are components that generally occupy the full width of the page with space above and below.

The block elements described below apply paragraph and image blocks. Additional block-like elements are described in these other topics:

Paragraph <p>

The most common element in documentation.

Section

Sections semantically group related content in a topic and under a heading.

Sections headings (titles) appear in Contents listings and in cross references to the section.

Restriction: You cannot nest sections; each DITA topic permits only one level of sections in a topic. If you absolutely need more levels, use DITA chunking. See Maps for details.

Subheading paragraphs

Subheading are a lite alternative to sections. They break a flow of text and semantically label a "sub section".

These pseudo-headings do not appears in a TOC listing. However, unlike true titled-elements, you should never link to a subheading.

Subheading output class

The paragraph above is a subheading. In the Content editor, open the Attributes panel and see its Output Class value is subhead. It renders bold, with a tad extra space in the top margin.

Code Block

Use the Code Block tag for long pieces of code that would be difficult for the reader to understand if used inline. See Code blocks for details about working with code blocks.

Long quote (<lq>)

Use for indenting text.

This is a <lq>. In HTML it gets rendered as a <blockquote> (which can perform indentation). Note that easyDITA encloses the paragraph in quote marks, but not our HTML output.

Lines (<lines>)

Lines is a way to provide multiple lines of text with no linespace between them, and no indentation.

Ambassador: "Hello. Welcome to Rylos."
Admiral: "It's a TRAP!"

Note: For a list of indented items without decorators (i.e., bullets), use Simple lists instead.

Lines is similar to Preformatted in that line breaks and extra spaces are preserved, but unlike <pre>, it is not in monospace font (unlike what Content editor shows).

Lines is also a way to get a line-
break.

Message block (<msgbloc>

A message block is a multi-line message from the system. Message blocks are similar to Code blocks in that the text is rendered in monspace font, but differs in that it does not retain whitespace, and does not apply code formatting.

Error Something has gone wildy wrong. 
A multi-line message from the system.

Image

Simple image element.

The notorious three legged stool
Restriction: All images must have an Alt Text description.

Figure

We don't use Figures. However, they are the only way to link to an image, like The notorious three-legged stool, if you really, really need to.

Figure 1. The notorious three-legged stool
Alternative text using the Alt element (can also use alt attribute; element has priority)

DITA elements that do not get published (comments)

<!-- source comment ->

Following this sentence is a comment in the source. It does not appear in the HTML output, but does appear in the Heretto editor.

<!--TIP: Tooltip source comment ->

Tip: an XML comment with a Tip that is only rendered in the Heretto editor. Mouse-over the 'i' icon to see the tip.

<!--Tip: It must begin with "<!--Tip: ". -->

<required-cleanup>

<required-cleanup> indicates there is something wrong with a DITA tag in the text.

<draft-comment>

And this is an in-line [].